Effect of Ag+ and PO43- ratios on the microstructure and photocatalytic activity of Ag3PO4

Abstract

In this work, the catalyst silver phosphate (Ag3PO4) with different initial ratios of Ag+ and PO43- in aqueous solution was synthesized by a simple precipitation method from AgNO3 and NH4H2PO4 which were used as the precursor. After that, the prepared samples were characterized by different techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS) and decomposition evolution of rhodamine B (RhB) solution. The results indicate that the initial ratios of Ag+/PO43- in aqueous solution can modify the morphology and also it can significantly affect the photocatalytic performance. During photocatalytic process, the rich Ag+ ion Ag3PO4 can form the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Ag nanoparticles, which inhibit the reduction of Ag3PO4 resulting in higher photocatalytic activity and stability.